Today's the day - What to watch in the SCOTUS case - The 6 ways the court might rule - When and what's happening - Poll: 91 percent of Americans following the case

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With contributions from Jennifer Haberkorn, David Nather and Jason Millman

WHAT TO WATCH IN THE SCOTUS CASE. We've been waiting for today's arguments for months. Months! Now the Supreme Court drama has arrived, and here are the top five things we'll be watching: 1. Will politics enter the chamber? 2. What do the tea leaves tell us? 3. How does the government handle the “broccoli” question? 4. If the mandate goes, then what? 5. Will the court punt? The POLITICO story: http://politi.co/GRggNA.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: SIX WAYS SCOTUS MIGHT RULE. The health care reform law is complex, and the Supreme Court has a lot of options, ranging from upholding the entire law to overturning it completely. Based on the arguments being made by the law’s opponents and the Justice Department, though, we break down the most likely six scenarios. The POLITICO Pro story: http://politi.co/GRggxb.

Good Monday morning and welcome to PULSE, Supreme Court extravaganza edition! There have been lines forming outside the court since this weekend, can you believe it? Health care policy is almost as cool as the iPad 3, or maybe Tickle Me Elmo.

“There you were, standing there. As your eyes reached out to me, something warm in your eyes touched my heart, right then and there. All the love I never knew I found in PULSE.”

TODAY IN POLITICO PRO:

-- SLIP AND FALL BECOMES MEDICARE 'PAY CHASE.' A loose coalition of K Street types, which includes trial lawyers, the U.S. Chamber and advocates for seniors, wants to breathe life into a congressional effort to pass legislation that would streamline the Medicare secondary payer process – a tedious name for a billion-dollar headache. The POLITICO Pro story: http://politico.pro/H41HV5

-- EXCHANGE WEEK: EYES ON NEW YORK. The fate of New York's exchange could be riding on the outcome of budget negotiations in Albany this week. http://politico.pro/GTOdtN

WHEN WILL WE KNOW? POLITICO will bring you full coverage from inside and outside the courtroom as fast as we get it, with up-to-the-minute stories and news alerts throughout the day. The Supreme Court is a bit of a black hole of news — the reporters covering the arguments have to file into the chamber as much as an hour early, and once they're there, they won't be able to communicate with the outside world (no electronics) until they leave and file stories. That said, the arguments are scheduled to begin around 10 a.m., and we're expecting the first news to emerge either midway through the arguments or toward the end. We'll give you the first breaking news updates as soon as we get them, followed by more details and analysis as soon as they're ready, including updates once the audio feed is released this afternoon. And, of course, you can expect the full story on the events going on outside the chamber.

HOW THE LEGAL ASSAULT ON THE ACA WENT MAINSTREAM. Two years ago, a whole bunch of legal scholars, conservatives included, agreed that there was little chance of a successful legal challenge to the ACA. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, when asked about the potential constitutional complications, memorably asked, “Are you serious?” But yes, the law’s foes were quite serious. POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports on the path of the legal challenge from a near-fringe theory to center stage at the Supreme Court: http://politi.co/H4ZOoa.

-- And here’s a look at the nine justices who will decide the fate of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, what their records suggest they’ll do, and what could be the big surprises from each. The POLITICO story: http://politico.pro/GTDjEl

EVERYONE WANTS IN. Nearly 40 people had lined up in front of the Supreme Court by 6 p.m. last night, 16 hours before the arguments were slated to begin. They were camped out with chairs, reading material, umbrellas and even a dog. One person set up shop across the street in colonial garb with a flag that read, "Appeal to Heaven." Pro’s Jennifer Haberkorn passed along this pic from the scene: http://politico.pro/H2qKCW.

-- In an email Sunday, Protect Your Care’s Eddie Vale predicted a clear contrast in the tone of the pro- and anti-ACA forces. Expect “loud yelling and hostility, Hitler & communist signs” from ACA foes, Vale wrote, and from supporters, a little more Kumbaya: “a joyful celebration of the Obamacare that is providing health care to tens of millions of Americans. We will be singing, there will be bands, church choirs and people telling their personal stories of how their lives have been literally saved by Obamacare.”

TEA PARTY TO SCOTUS: KILL THE BILL. On Saturday, hundreds of tea party supporters rallied on Capitol Hill with the same message: Kill the bill. Though the crowds for the “Road to Repeal” rally in Senate Park, near the Capitol, were smaller than they were just after the ACA passed two years ago, the passion was the same. People stood for hours in the pouring rain to deliver their message to the Supreme Court — and to Congress. “Two years ago the momentum was a little bit different,” said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. “There were months and months building up to the passage of the law, but right now this is more of a kicking off as we go into the week.” The POLITICO story: http://politi.co/GNTNdE.

** A message from the Stop The HIT Coalition: Two years have passed since the signing of the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) and its $87 billion tab for small businesses. At a time when America needs small businesses to succeed most, the HIT threatens nearly 250,000 jobs and $30 billion in sales by 2021. It's an anniversary no one wants to celebrate again. It’s time for Congress to Stop The HIT. **

THE OP-EDS ARE FLYING. Former Majority Leader Tom Daschle, an architect of the health reform law, writes that knocking down the individual mandate will not help the sorry state of the health care system in the country. His POLITICO op-ed: http://politi.co/GQbeuN.

-- Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says the individual mandate has got to go for the sake of the individual liberties guaranteed under the constitution: http://politi.co/GQbgCZ.

C-SPAN POLL: 95 PERCENT OF AMERICANS INTERESTED IN SCOTUS ACA CASE. This isn’t true of most cases, PULSE readers, but a poll by C-SPAN on the Supreme Court and health reform also finds that 91 percent say they will either “somewhat” or “very” closely follow news coverage of the case. And 74 percent — the highest number recorded in a tracking poll to date — believe the proceedings should be televised. The survey, released Friday: http://cs.pn/GHXP9v.

BEN NELSON STANDS BY HIS ACA VOTE. The senator who paved the way for health care reform has a message for his legion of critics as the two-year-old law heads to the Supreme Court: Kiss off. Republicans vilified Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson for cutting a $100 million backroom deal for his state, then casting the crucial 60th vote for President Barack Obama’s landmark legislative achievement. The so-called Cornhusker Kickback dogs Nelson to this day and has even been invoked against former Sen. Bob Kerrey in the Democrat’s just-launched bid to succeed Nelson in the Senate. But Nelson, who decided to retire rather than run for a third term, told POLITICO’s Scott Wong in an interview that he wouldn’t do much differently if he had it to do over again. The POLITICO story: http://politi.co/H1qMkM.

NEW MEXICO’S HEALTH REFORM DIRECTOR QUITS. The doctor appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez to run the state’s Office of Health Reform resigned last week, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported Friday. Dan Derksen helped New Mexico win a $34 million federal grant last year to start building the exchange's computer framework, according to the paper, but he resigned in frustration over resistance from state officials. The Santa Fe New Mexican story: http://bit.ly/GLPWjs.

FEDERAL JUDGE: NO CONTRACEPTION RESTRICTION ON HHS FUNDS. This isn’t about the contraception mandate in health reform, but it rings some of the same bells. Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled late Friday that HHS could not provide funding to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to help victims of human trafficking if the conference prohibited the money from being used for contraception or abortion services. The suit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union over money provided under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The bishops’ conference had contracted with groups to help to victims of human trafficking, but with the no contraception or abortion strings attached. “Since many trafficking victims have been raped by the traffickers and forced into prostitution, these services are vital,” an ACLU release states. Last year, HHS did not renew the contract with the bishops, but the case proceeded anyway. “This case is about the limits of the government's ability to delegate to a religious institution the right to use taxpayer money to impose its beliefs on others (who may or may not share them)," Stearns wrote in his ruling.

SANTORUM SLAMS ABORTION COVERAGE RULE. The Republican presidential contender picked up on the final HHS rule issued earlier this month that will require health plans that provide abortion coverage through the state exchanges to designate at least $1 per month in premiums from each beneficiary to pay for abortion services. “That’s right,” Rick Santorum wrote Friday at RedState.com. “Obamacare now demands that Americans will directly pay for ending the life of an unborn child.” But this isn’t news — anti-abortion forces have been angry since the issue came up in the health reform debate about how the law can keep from running afoul of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding from paying for most abortions. Basically, the health plans that offer abortion have to keep separate accounts for abortion services and keep federal funds out of them. Santorum also slammed Mitt Romney for taking a similar approach to the issue in the Massachusetts health law. Santorum’s op-ed: http://bit.ly/GXatBf. PolitiFact’s takedown on claims about “$1 abortions” and health reform: http://bit.ly/GEVJcR.

IS ROMNEY THE BEST CANDIDATE TO TAKE ON ‘OBAMACARE?’ Well, he’s unique among the Republican candidates for having enacted health reform himself and so can’t be demonized as an out-of-touch ideologue, argue Paul Goldman, former chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, and Mark Rozell, a professor at George Mason University. In a POLITICO op-ed, they write that that gives Romney the ability to challenge Obama’s health law while still credibly advocating for a government role in fixing the problem: http://politi.co/GQbeuR.

WHAT WE’RE READING

Ted Kennedy helped shape Mitt Romney’s political career and continues to haunt it, Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports in the New York Times: http://nyti.ms/GO8uUP.

Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna joined the lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act, but the moderate Republican gubernatorial hopeful is taking pains to say he doesn’t want to kill the entire law, The Seattle Times reports: http://bit.ly/H5JfKc.

Former CMS Administrator Don Berwick reflects on his tenure at the agency and looks ahead on health reform — post SCOTUS — in an interview with Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff: http://wapo.st/GOUFlg.

Which side Justice Anthony Kennedy lands on in the health reform suit could decide one of the most important cases in decades, a choice with not only profound policy implications but one that could alter the course of the 2012 presidential election, the Tampa Bay Times reports: http://bit.ly/GWKcqU.

Senior White House adviser David Plouffe says the Republicans will regret branding the health care law as “Obamacare,” CBS news reports: http://cbsn.ws/GSosds.

Lawyers in the health reform case have been training hard for a legal marathon, The New York Times reports: http://nyti.ms/H2MiVi.

** A message from the Stop The HIT Coalition: The Health Insurance Tax (HIT) will raise the cost of health insurance and stifle job creation. The additional and unnecessary $87 billion cost will decrease small business’ ability to invest in future expansion and create new jobs for hard-working Americans. If enacted in 2014, the HIT is expected to cost the U.S. 250,000 jobs and up to $30 billion in lost sales. Take action at www.StopTheHIT.com. **